YT VANCOUVER ee ; Out to lunch SPECIAL RESTAURANT FEATURE PAGE 31 March 28, 1990 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 ;| Consortium outraged over new calls to develop valiey THE PROVINCIAL government. will announce within two weeks 2 new call for proposals to develop the Callaghan NEWS photo Paul McGrath 150 cyclists compete TRANQUIL scenery mixes with intense competition as Milo Bigler of Vancouver pumps through the cycling segment of the Canadian Spring Duathlon held Sunday at Seymour Demonstration Forest. The fastest overall time of 1:22.02 for the cembina- tion 5-km run, 30-km cycle, 5-km run race belongs to Terry Sedgewick of Vaitcouver. At 1:25.56, the fastest woman was Donna Landreville-Peters of Seatile with an eighth overall finish. Lance Watson and Eidon Guenther, both of North Vancouver, came in fourth and fifth places respectively out of 2 field of more than 150 competitors. See more sports, page 13. 3 INSIDE: fa? fe S LISTINGS COMPLETE WEEK’S TV Veailey south of Whistler. And the decision has outraged a consortium headed by West Van- couverites Nan and Dianne Hart- wick, who maintain that their Powder Mountain Resorts Ltd. (PMR) legally won the right five years ago to develop in the valley. According to the mother- daughter team, PMR _ investors have spent more than $2 million over eight years through four pro- posal calls in their bid to develop a year-round glacier skiing resort. When informed that Crown Lands Minister Dave Parker was poised to call for bids yet again — a move which he confirmed this week to the News — Nan Hartwick said any such action ‘‘would be immoral, irrelevant and illegal.”” A six-week investigation by the News into the Powder Valley saga has found: * accusations by the Hartwicks of inappropriate political interference from the premier’s office and by former senior civil servants to block their proposal; * reports of a disappearing memo which allegedly ordered then- forests minister Jack Kempf to stop supporting the PMR plan; a private visit to Premier Bill Vander Zalm last fall vy a PMR investor who presented an affidavit spelling out how the consortium feels it was betrayed from within the government. The Hartwicks say Premier Vander Zalm’s former principal secretary David Poole ‘‘directly in- tervened”’ in early 1987 to scuttle PMR’s proposal. “We have suffered severe dam- ages, and extreme, unwarranted distress because of that interfer- ence,’ Nan Hartwick told the News this week. A Nov. 4, 1987 ietter from Poole to Nan Hartwick told the longtime Social Credit supporter that ‘‘Cabinet considers your ap- plication terminated, and has in- vited development proposals from other interested parties."* Poole wrote that PMR failed to meet government policy for alpine skiing, a charge the consortium called ‘ta red herring designed to gloss over the fact that cabinet was misled over our plans.” As the originator of the proposal to develop the Callaghan Valley. the elder Hartwick, a North Shore real estate agent, believes the cur- rent cabinet must deal first with PMR, rather than issue any further proposal call. PMR sought exclusive develop- ment, lease and purchase rights of Jand in the valley, with a commu- ment to pay for all infrastructure — roads, sewage, etc. One outcome of the years of fighting for their proposal has been that Diane Hartwick, a former ministerial assistant who lost in her bid for the Socred nomination in Point Grey in 1979, is considering resuming her politi- cal career. She is expected to seek the West Vancouver/Capilano Socred nomination for the next election. West Vancouver-Howe Sound MLA John Reynolds told the News that he had been instrumen- tal in bringing the PMR issue back before cabinet earlier this year. He said he was aware of Parker’s plan to start with a clean slate on the future of the valley. “The Powder Mountain group has put a lot of money and effort into their proposal over a consid- erable period,”’ said Reynolds. “But their initial plan was rejected despite numerous changes by them to meet our policies. Perhaps now is time to clear up the whole matter with the new proposal call under new guidelines.’ For the last 2% years, the Hartwicks have fought for a fur- ther hearing, while the government entertained other project outlines. They also say they would welcome a legislative inquiry into the situa- tion, and they want assurances that Reynolds gave cabinet all of their documents. Crown Lands Minister Parker says the new proposal call would be based on a task force report on the valley's future, conducted by Squamish Regional District’ chair- man Don Cumming, Whistler mayor Drew Meredith and Crown Lands deputy minister Ed McGregor. The task force review follows the rejection not only of the See Firms Page 3 NORTH SHORE SPORTS: